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Lesson on Introduction to Forestry

Answer Text:
Forestry
Forestry is the science of developing and managing forests including cultivating them.

Type of Forests
1. Natural forests-which grow by natural means of seed dispersal.
2. Seminatural/ derived/cultivated forests-which is in the process of recovering from interference by man.
3. Planted/cultivated forests which have been planted by man.
4. Indigenous forests-which are native to a region or which have grown in a region from the beginning.
5. Exotic forests-which have trees which have been introduced to a place from other countries.

Factors Influencing Types and Distribution of Forests
Temperature
• High temperature causes fast growth of trees while low temperature causes slow growth.
• Rain forests are found at low altitudes which are warmer while coniferous forests are found at high altitudes which are cooler.
Aspect
• Dense forests are found on windward slopes of mountains because they are wetter than leeward slopes and they start at a lower level than on the leeward slopes.
• In temperate region slopes facing equator have dense forests because they are warmer while those facing the
poles have coniferous forests which are adapted to low temperatures.

Precipitation
• There are dense forest where there is heavy precipitation while there is less forest cover consisting of stunted trees in areas with little precipitation.
• Coniferous forest have cone-shaped crowns to allow snow to slide off so as not to accumulate on the branches
and cause them to break off.
Soil
• Deep soils support huge tropical trees while shallow soils support coniferous trees which have shallow and wide
spread root system to be able to maximally utilise water on the top soil since the sub soil is permanently frozen.
• Poor or infertile soils have stunted trees.

Human Activities
• Deforestation and shifting cultivation- man has cleared forests to create room for agriculture settlement etc.
which has reduced forest cover on the earth’s surface.
• Afforestation and Agroforestry-man has planted trees in areas where they never existed establishing forests there.
• Reafforestation-man has replanted forests which he has cleared with indigenous and exotic trees causing natural forests to become seminatural/ secondary or derived forests.